US Air Force To Test Launch ICBM From California Tonight

Tonight the U.S. Air Force will test launch an unarmed Minuteman 3 intercontinental ballistic missile California, its fourth such test in 2017. The 30th Space Wing says the missile was to be launched between 12:01 a.m. and 6:01 a.m. Wednesday from Vandenberg Air Force Base, located 130 miles northwest of Los Angeles.

In a statement, Vandenberg base said the test would show the "effectiveness, readiness, and accuracy" of the weapon system.

Col. Michael Hough, 30th Space Wing commander, is the launch decision authority. "Team V is postured to work with Air Force Global Strike Command to test launch the Minuteman III missile," said Hough. "Our long history in partnering with the men and women of the 576th Flight Test Squadron shows that the Western Range stands ready and able to create a safe launch environment."

The 576th Flight Test Squadron will be responsible for installed tracking, telemetry, and command destruct systems on the missile.

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While Minuteman missiles are regularly tested with launches from Vandenberg that send unarmed re-entry vehicles 4,200 miles (6,800 kilometers) across the Pacific to a target area at Kwajalein Atoll, the latest U.S. launches come amid tensions with North Korea as that nation develops its own ICBMs.

According to military analysts, who analyzed North Korea's latest, 2nd in one month ICBM test, a broad part of the mainland United States, including Los Angeles and Chicago, is now in range of Pyongyang’s weapons. In response to last Friday's launch, the U.S. Air Force flew two B-1 bombers over the Korean Peninsula on Sunday in a show of force. The U.S. also said it conducted a successful test of a missile defense system located in Alaska.

Speaking to repoters, on Tuesday afternoon Rex Tillerson said that the US is not seeking regime change in North Korea, adding " we are not your enemy", although he conceded that the US is seeking to apply "peaceful pressure" on the Kim regime. He also clarified that the US does not blame China for the situation in North Korea, but wants it to use its economic leverage on Pyongyang. From Reuters:

U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE TILLERSON SAYS U.S. IS SEEKING TO APPLY "PEACEFUL PRESSURE" ON NORTH KOREA, SAYS OPTIONS ARE LIMITED

U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE TILLERSON SAYS U.S. DOES NOT BLAME CHINA FOR SITUATION IN NORTH KOREA, BUT WANTS IT TO USE ECONOMIC INFLUENCE ON PYONGYANG

TILLERSON SAYS U.S. DOES NOT SEEK REGIME CHANGE IN NORTH KOREA, "WE ARE NOT YOUR ENEMY"

TILLERSON SAYS WOULD LIKE TO HAVE A DIALOGUE WITH NORTH KOREA AT SOME POINT

TILLERSON SAYS U.S. AT PIVOT POINT IN RELATIONSHIP WITH CHINA, LOOKING AT HOW TO DEFINE RELATIONSHIP IN FUTURE

Previous Minuteman ICBM launches this year were conducted in February, April and May. That month, the Air Force also conducted a test of a missile interceptor launched from Vandenberg which destroyed a mock warhead over the Pacific.

The Norks won’t wait until we attack them. As soon as the evacuation of 28,000 American soldiers stationed in South Korea starts, the Norks will do the Nookie. They don’t even need spies for that – South Korea will start screaming like a castrated piglet when the first US soldiers board a ship. BTW… Why are we shown the ranges of their Ding-Dongs from the launch pads in North Korea? What happened to their Submarines with submerged launch capabilities? Just wondering…. ;-) Looney

Self defense?North Korea can't do that! Only we can do that!...and Israel...

the Defense Ministry carried out a test launch of a rocket propulsion system as part of the development of the Jericho ballistic missile, speculating that the missile had a range of 4,000km. Israel has since been continuously trying to improve the system, both in terms of range and accuracy and it is now reported to have a range of over 10,000km. http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/IDF-conducts-experimental-rocket-test-…

Hyprocits

Hypocrisy is the contrivance of a false appearance of virtue or goodness, while concealing real character or inclinations, especially with respect to religious and moral beliefs; hence in a general sense, hypocrisy may involve dissimulation, pretense, or a sham. Hypocrisy is the practice of engaging in the same behavior or activity for which one criticizes another. In moral psychology, it is the failure to follow one's own expressed moral rules and principles.[1] According to British political philosopher David Runciman, "Other kinds of hypocritical deception include claims to knowledge that one lacks, claims to a consistency that one cannot sustain, claims to a loyalty that one does not possess, claims to an identity that one does not hold."[2] American political journalist Michael Gerson says that political hypocrisy is "the conscious use of a mask to fool the public and gain political benefit."[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypocrisy

A better question is is the code still 0123456789 (whatever the default was) like it was until 2015 when that detail came out. Maybe they went super secret and used up up down down left right left right b a b start.

HH, After a week of watching YouTube videos about the Apollo missions I can say if I was on a grand jury as a juror I would say that indeed the Moon missions were a hoax. Same goes for our mission to Mars. It's all fake!

However, the ICBM's those "heroic" NASA rocket scientists created are very, very, real.

"We knew the world would not be the same. A few people laughed, a few people cried. Most people were silent. I remembered the line from the Hindu scripture, the Bhagavad Gita; Vishnu is trying to persuade the Prince that he should do his duty and, to impress him, takes on his multi-armed form and says, 'Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.' I suppose we all thought that, one way or another."J. Robert Oppenheimer

I remember seeing this movie on TV when I was a kid and it scared the living shit out of me... the movie "Miracle Mile" also had a similar effect. As an adult, I have abolutely no fear of death. I wonder what changed? Perhaps is it the fact that I feel at my current age I have lived a pretty full life, and done most of the things I have ever wanted to do.

I'm making over $7k a month working part time. I kept hearing other people tell me how much money they can make online so I decided to look into it.!pa78d: Well, it was all true and has totally changed my life. This is what I do... http://bit.ly/2f0fLIz

Wasn't there something about not wanting to damage mobile launchers with experimental rockets, so they put them on a nice cheap, solid launching slab? Guess a sub could be considered a mobile thing they don't want to scorch to hell with some dodgy prototype? OK no wheels, but ....Oh and ....Praise God for Tillerson. Seriously.

Already-happened had a post from US Navy saying the NK subs are doing "unusual behavior". Apparently the USN thinks somebody preparing for a irrational lunatic who has made every threat possible in the past 4 months is behaving unusually.

Go read some Sun Tzu or Machiavelli. We do it simply because we can. And we know that no one else will dare to threaten us for it. We do it because we have a global military-economic empire to manage. Managing an empire requires you to intimidate your opponents and make them blink first before you do. Now I'm not saying that the American Empire will last forever, of course not, every empire has to die someday. But can you really fault our policymakers for trying to make the whole thing stick together and last as long as possible? If this whole thing goes down and Russia or China become the new top dog of the world, people like you and me are going to be the first ones to suffer as the dollar loses its value and our economic system collapses. So let's not hate on every single thing the US military does. We have to conquer others so that our people may survive for another day. True, they're not living at their highest potential, and yes there is plenty of corruption in our elites (this is probably the main reason the American Empire is collapsing in the first place). But we're all in this together, no matter how shitty it is to say that.

It's the law of the jungle man. We have a lot of armchair philosophers here but how many know of the sacrifices it takes to build and maintain a nation-state or an empire. You have to fight others so that your people may prosper. How do you think all those glorious kingdoms of Old Europe became so glorious? By killing their competitors. Now again, I totally admit that there is corruption and debauchery among the Western elites in massive proportions. This is why our empire is slowly collapsing. The middle class is being destroyed. I get that, I support Trump too. But the job of the US military is a unique one. If we don't keep the global financial shitshow maintained every day, by threat of force, it will indeed collapse. And when it does, millions if not billions will be thrown into chaos and ruin. Neither options look good, but I'd choose the one where I'm not first to die, any day.

In a world of limited resources, he who controls the most resources wins. I love Russia and China, but being an American citizen, I can clearly see that they are competitors to the Americans. This isn't about emotions and seeing the other side as "evil". That sort of propaganda is only used to convince the peasants and the masses. For those who know about geopolitics, it is simply a game of numbers. There are only competitors fighting over interests, no such thing as good vs. evil. The very notion of a nation is that the people within believe that they are somehow different, unique, or special compared to all others outside the nation. This is the basic definition of nationalism.

You talk of a world of limited resources yet u are happy to squander your share of these same resources, NOT in any productive way, but to fund a MIC so u can steal your neighbours resources....U are morally bankrupt & soon u will be economically bankrupt too...US exceptional thinking will be the death of us all...

What we are doing as a nation only hastens the demise you speak of. The dollar is losing it's value because we try to impress the world with military might. You have the cause and effect backward. If you actually understand what you read and read some history you will come to this conclusion as well.

China's building bridges and skyscrapers because they don't have to foot the bill for maintaining the shitshow that is the entire global financial conglomerate. The US and its military is the one stuck with that job.

"China's building bridges and skyscrapers because they don't have to foot the bill for maintaining the shitshow that is the entire global financial conglomerate. The US and its military is the one stuck with that job."My heart bleeds for u.... fucking warmongers who think you are the "World Police"... gimme a break... FOAD..